Unniversities and other educational institutes need to better tailor their courses to the needs of business, says Kate Carnell, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
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Ms Carnell was in Wollongong on Monday to speak at an Illawarra Business Chamber CEO lunch at the City Beach Function Centre.
Speaking before the lunch she said the current skills shortage showed educational institutions such as universities and TAFE needed to work in a close partnership with the business community to ensure future needs were met.
"It's silly that we're seeing so many businesses saying they can't get the skills they need at a time when we've got significant youth unemployment and unemployment growing in the population more broadly," Ms Carnell said.
"So obviously we've got a disconnect between the skills businesses need and what we're training young people in."
Ms Carnell said providers needed to adjust their courses to reflect what workplaces of today were like, and then continue to change as the workplaces changed.
Businesses could also do better, Ms Carnell said, by making it clearer what their needs were and also forming strong partnerships with education providers.
The University of Wollongong was one institution that Ms Carnell highlighted as moving in the right direction.
"Wollongong University has been an extraordinarily business-friendly university," she said. "It has been a great example of a university that's been interested in talking to businesses. It is really quite entrepreneurial and innovative."